Seattle Cohost Wake

Posted by Natalie

As soon as it was announced that Cohost was shutting down, I knew I at least needed some way to grieve it in community. I'm not a particularly observant Jew, but I do take to heart the idea that grief is a community experience. Cohost was never an experience of any individual in isolation, so its loss shouldn't be experienced in isolation either.

I talked to my wife and Xandra who had also made some rumblings about some sort of meet-up, we decided on a place and time, and I sent out an open invitation‎[1]. We knew Seattle was a pretty big Cohost city, but based on the Philly and Boston turnouts we expected maybe thirty to forty people.

the Seattle Cohost wake
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A large group of masked people in a park posing together, many holding Eggbug plushes.

The last dedicated count we got was fifty-eight, but people kept showing up after that so I believe in the end we had more than sixty attendees. Lydia even came up from the Bay Area, shocking everyone there who knew her! I was completely blown away by this incredible outpouring of love for Cohost.

It was an intensely emotional mix of mourning and joy. We had a moment of silence for the loss of Cohost, we came together in a cheer of "Eggbug Forever!", but most of all people just hung out and chatted. We even had our very own rainbow:

A rainbow over Capitol Hill
Me with a rainbow in the background
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A photo of me, wearing a brown, navy, and tan knit dress, posing jauntily while standing on a concrete rise in Capitol Hill. A rainbow is visible over my shoulder. Photo by rilight.

Eggbug gazing at a rainbow
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A blurry eggbug in the foreground gazes at a rainbow as the sky darkens. Photo by Alyx.

Rose and I also came up with an idea for a little local mailing list for COVID-safe events. To help spread the word, we made a zine. I only printed fifty copies, which I thought would be plenty, so for anyone who showed up after all the zines were gone or who couldn't make it at all, I've reproduced it below:

Emerald City Eggbugs
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emerald city eggbugs

A community mailing list for local events.

(Between the text is a drawing of Eggbug resting happily in the shade of a fern.)

Join link
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join at

https://gaggle.email/join/emerald-city-eggbugs@gaggle.email

follow the link! or type it in

(Sparkles are drawn around the link, and a cursor is drawn as though it's about to click on it.)

Basic information
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What? -An email list for organizing events and staying in touch locally.

Why? -Digital community is great, but local community is wonderful too!

Who? -You! Your friends! Anyone in and around Puget Sound.

How does it work?
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How does it work?

Hosting an event? Want people to show up? Send the details to emerald-city-eggbugs@gaggle.email!

Want more opportunities for COVID-safe ways to meet people and hang out? Join the list!

(Swirly drawings adorn the top and bottom of the page.)

not just for cohost alums!
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important:

not just for cohost alums!

We want to preserve the spirit of Cohost and use that community as the seeds of something new, but there aren't any Cohost users anymore. Let's spread that spirit throughout the city and help thaw the Seattle freeze!

All events must be COVID-safe!
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All events must be COVID-safe!

  • All events must require N95+ masks
  • Indoor events must require negative rapid test within 12 hours
  • Need masks and tests? Mask Bloc has your back! https://linktr.ee/maskblocseattle
  • Don't attend if you've had COVID in the last two weeks or had confirmed COVID contact in the last week

Be safe!
Be smart!
Support your disabled friends!

(A photo of an eggbug plush wearing an N95 mask.)

Moderation policy
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Moderation policy

For now, we're using Cohost's community guidelines where relevant: abuse, harassment, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other bigotry will not be tolerated on the mailing list or at events advertised on the mailing list.

We also reserve the right to ban people for being huge jerks, but we hope not to have to!

eggbug forever
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(Beneath a drawing of Eggbug giving a thumbs-up)

"eggbug forever"

I want to thank everyone who came and made this event as wonderful as it was. Now when I grieve Cohost, I'll be able to hold this evening as a balm to my heart. To send it off, here are a few of the particularly adorable Eggbugs I managed to photograph while I was there:

Eggbug wearing a shimmery yellow bow
Eggbug wearing a tiny Mariners helmet
Eggbug peeking out from a pocket

  1. I think this post actually coined "Cohost Wake". It was certainly the first in that tag! ↩︎

  1. thank you all again for coming out
  2. and for being on cohost
  3. and for sharing this moment with me and one another
  4. cohost
  5. seattle

Webmentions (6) What's that?

  1. Joyces????????✨ replied on peoplemaking.games

    @nex3 thanks for putting this on! we are glad we attended, it was great to put faces to names

  2. Natalie replied on mastodon.social

    @joyces thanks for coming! and thank you for making the first reply to a crosspost from my blog so I have some test data to use to implement web mention display ????

  3. Owen Nelson replied on mastodon.social

    @nex3 makes me think of the bit in Halt and Catch Fire where all the Community users come to the mixer at the Mutiny! house.

  4. Natalie replied on mastodon.social

    @onelson yeah... similar vibe

  5. fiendishauburn@goblin.band replied on goblin.band

    Great turnout!

  6. mentioned on kyn.bearblog.dev